Once a Month Cooking

I couldn't let October go by without making a single post....things are still dragging a bit like I mentioned in the last post, but I have a good feeling that we'll see a turn around before too much longer.

My newest experiment to try is Once a Month Cooking. the idea is that you basically spend a whole day cooking a lot of foods and freezing them for the month so that all you have to do is warm the dishes up and eat throughout the month. No hassle with preparation, no overspending on frozen casseroles and such from the supermarket. You can make these things yourself and pull them out of the freezer.

I already had most of the meat for the dishes below, but I had to go buy produce and things like dinner crescents, cream cheese etc. I spent less than $10 grocery shopping yesterday. Since this is my first month doing this, it will be interesting to see how far these meals stretch - how many, and it will give me an idea on how many meals I need to plan on cooking next month to make it through the whole month. We're getting into the season of soups and such, and to be honest, I HATE canned soup - I'm so excited about the potato and butternut squash soup recipes I have listed below.

So.....when I get home from church today, I'll be busy in the kitchen prepping these recipes for the month.

http://onceamonthmom.com/easy-freezable-chicken-and-biscuits/

http://onceamonthmom.com/toddler-ific-pizza-snack-cups/

http://onceamonthmom.com/chili-cheese-twice-baked-potatoes-recipe/

http://onceamonthmom.com/kaylees-casserole/

http://onceamonthmom.com/butternut-poblano-soup/

http://onceamonthmom.com/chicken-broccoli-rollups/

http://onceamonthmom.com/slow-cooker-potato-soup-recipe/


Please share any recipes that you may know which are easy to prep in advance. Thanks!

1 year later....a reflection,

February 22, 2009 we took the first step to taking control of our finances. We started off with 6 credit cards, 2 Car loans, and a consolidation loan, over $42,000 in debt, and a whole messload of bad habits. Here is a reflection of things we've changed as a result:

• In the past year, we paid off 6 credit cards, and a car. All we have left is the consolidation loan, and the second car. Total debt paid: $22,290.06
• We no longer use credit cards.
• We have a written budget... and we actually stick to it. If it's not budgetted, we dont buy it, unless it's an emergency....
• ...which brings me to my next point. We have an emergency fund. Luckily, we haven't had to use it except for a couple of vet related expenses. Once we use it, we halt the debt snowball until the emergency fund has been replenished, and we continue with the snowball.
• I don't go shopping out of boredom or "I Wants" anymore. If I find something I want, I save up blow money if I can justify having it. Many times, I do without. Sometimes Jonny has to tell me that my want is actually a NEED...such as clothing....when you go 6 months without buying clothes, it becomes a need to add a few new pieces to the wardrobe. However, I used to buy clothes ALL the time, and I knew this was a weakness for me. Therefore, I still try to avoid clothing stores while I'm still in this pursuit to get out of debt.
• Because of our written budget, we do not eat out to the tune of over $800 a month in FOOD. Good grief I was depressed when I first realized how much money we were wasting by eating out. Our eating out and grocery budget is now less than half that (due in part to coupons).
• I've become a better cook, and I brownbag more lunches for work, rather than swinging by the drive through.
• We saved up, and paid for a trip to California right after Christmas (to see family) entirely in cash. Flight, rental car, hotel, food, and activities while we were there, etc. The trip did not follow us home in the form of a credit card bill. Woo!
• We pay for things like auto, life and renters insurance in cash now. Rather than swiping a credit card when the bill comes due, I save up an appropriate amount every month in a savings account deemed as sinking funds for these expenses, and then when the bill comes in, I transfer the money and pay it off, rather than charging it.
• As far as entertainment goes - we've gotten creative. Date nights at home with a good movie and dinner, or movies nights at the dollar theater. Camping at the local state park is CHEAP for a weekend. As soon as tax season is over and I have my husband back, we'll be going camping this spring. Yay!

Goals for the upcoming year:

• To better manage our budget by using cash envelopes for our non-bill related expenses. Now that all the credit cards are paid off, our monthly cash flow with regards to the paychecks are going to be easier to manage because. 
• Find more snowflakes (unexpected income, or "found" money) that can be applied to the debt snowball.
• Pay off Consolidation and Car Loans by Christmas.

Hope you all have a great week!

Big News, More Couponing, and updated budget

Fabulous news! As most of you already know, we paid off the last 2 credit cards, and for the first time in over 10 years, we have NO credit card debt whatsoever! All that we have left is a consoliddation loan, and to pay off Jonny's car. We feel very confident that we will be able to do this by Christmas, and will be able to spend Spring building up our fully funded emergency fund, as well as a down payment on a house. Our goal is to be house hunting by Summer 2011! WEEE!

We've also cut our food and household budget because of the use of coupons and looking for savings. I looked back at my post from about a month ago, when I said I had spent $89, and just shook my head. These days, my shopping trips are more in the $40 range, and I have become successful at "flipping" my bill. I dont go shopping for what I need that week anymore. I go shopping for things that we use, but are also on sale. I stock up on non-perishable items. For example: Hamburger Helper. Normally $2.00 a box, today, they were 10 for $10 ($1 each) and I had three $0.75 off 3 coupons. So I bought 9 boxes for $9.00 - $2.25 = $6.75. 9 boxes at normal price of $2.00 each would have been $18.

I don't buy things just because I have coupons or just because they are on sale though. I buy things that we use, but the key to couponing is definitely to not be brand loyal. I have stocked up on laundry detergent, toilet paper, paper towels, and personal toiletries in the last month and have spent just a little bit of money doing so. They are all different brands, depending on what was on sale when. I have a good 6 months of toletries and laundry supplies stocked up right now.

I also buy more "treats" now, because I can. Jonny and I LOVE brownies....we dont make them all the time, but I'd rather buy them when they are cheap, rather than when I'm having a hankering for some, and end up paying $3 or $4 a box for the "good stuff." Today, the Betty Crocker Hersey Brownies were B1G1, and I had a $0.75 coupon off 2. Price came out to $1.02 per box. So, in short, todays trip to Winn Dixie prior to them swiping my loyalty card was $83.33. After swiping the loyalty card, and applying coupons, it dropped all the way to $37.80.

I look at grocery shopping completely differently now. If it's not on sale, if I don't have a coupon, and it's not something I can't live without for the next week, the I don't buy it. Such a different approach to grocery shopping than I used to have...

I'm still trying to find a cheaper way to buy Gillette Fusion Blades, which is one thing we ARE brand loyal to. Jonny and I both use these, and currently, we buy a pack of 16 at Sams club for $42, which comes out to $2.63 a blade. I've been looking at target, walmart, cvs, publix, winn dixie, etc, for a better price, but even with a $3 off coupon (cant use coupons at Sams), the cheapest I have found at those places are $3.00 a blade. So...until I find a better price, I guess Sam's Club will win for this particular product. If you have any suggestions for me, please let me know!

Here's the new budget. Since the last time I posted, we have lowered the cable bill, lowered the food and grocery bill, upped the medical bill. The snowball has changed as a result of no more credit card debt, and anything left over at the end of the month will also be tacked on to the NFCU Loan until that one is knocked out as well.

--------Incomes--------
A Disability 123
J Disability 123
GIBill 1518
Paycheck 1051 (after tax)
Paycheck 1051
Svgs Allotment 100
Svgs Allotment 100

--------Charity--------
AXiD 10
Church 300

--------Saving--------
Savings 443
Sinking Funds/NFCU 300

--------Housing--------
Rent/Water 794

--------Utilities--------
Electricity 150
Mobile Phone 142
Cable 85
Storage 40


--------Food--------
Food & Household 300

--------Transportation--------
Gas & Oil 125


--------Medical/Health--------
Medical 75


--------Personal--------
A Blow 100
J Blow 100


--------Debts--------
Student Loan 126
Corolla Loan 276
NFCU Loan 700

Coupon Junkie

I went to a couponing class last night and I learned SO MUCH about how to save alot more money on my groceries and household goods. Apparently, there is a difference between combining coupons, and stacking them. Combining means using 2 manufacturer, store, or competitor coupons at the same time. Stacking, on the other hand is when you have a manufacture coupon in conjunction with a store coupon and possibly even a competitor coupon. Combining is not allowed. Stacking is.

If you wait until items go on sale - especially B1G1, and stack with a manufacturer coupon, store coupon, and competitor coupon at the same time, you may end up getting your item for mere pennies.

Some couponers make a game of trying to flip their bills. This is when you save more than you spend. I had a small shopping trip tonight, but I had my first flip! I bought 4 items: 2 bottles of Aleve ($3.49 each), a bottle of All laundry detergent(6.49) and a bottle of Clorox bleach(2.19). Total Regular Price: $15.66.

I had coupon for $5 off 2 bottles of Aleve. New price, 1.98.
All detergent was on sale for $5.99. I had a $1 off coupon. New price: 4.99
Bleach was free with the purchase of All. New Price: $0.
New Total: $6.97 + tax.
Savings: $8.69.

I could get used to this.

I talked to Jonny, and we're going to clean out the front coat closet and make rooms for more shelf space in there for household and pantry items. The coupon class taught me that the way to save so much money was to buy it with stacked coupons, while they are on sale, and to stock up as much as you can when they are on sale.

Ebay is a good place to find coupons if you're too lazy to look for them yourself. Southernsavers.com is a good site to check out for upcoming coupons that will be available, and what the best way to use those coupons are.

I cant believe I never knew you could stack coupons...and use competitor coupons. Oh my goodness.

New Goal: Cut my Grocery and household budget in half. By doing so, I'll have an extra $200 a month to put to the debt snowball. Lets see if I can make it work :)

Buying Groceries

We went grocery shopping today. Bought some stuff at Sams Club (the only wholesale club here in Columbus) and some other items at Winn Dixie.

I like Sams because I can get items that we use alot of in bulk and freeze it. We get 90/10 ground beef at $2.89 a pound. I bought a 7 pound package, and separated it into 9 smaller ziplock bags. I used to separate it in 1 pound portions, but over the last several months, we've realized that a whole pound of ground beef for the recipes we're cooking is a little bit more than we need. So we decided to package them a little smaller - 3/4 pound packages or so. This way, we get more meals out of the same amount of beef. Even for recipes such as Hamburger Helper, 3/4 pound of meat will be plenty.

Wholesale Clubs are great for getting deals in bulk. I got a 5 pound bag of rice for less than $5 (which I separated into smaller ziplock bags, too) and a pork roast that I cut in half before freezing. I'll be able to put it in the crockpot with some veggies for an easy yummy meal. We also buy hot dogs and separate them in smaller packages and freeze the rest. We do the same with bread and buns. My deep freezer is the best $160 investment we ever made, because we have the ability to buy in bulk and don't have to worry about it going bad before we can use it all.

I wasnt able to buy chicken breasts today. The Sams brand fresh boneless skinless chicken breast were on sale $1.77 a pound, but they were out. I was told they'd be getting more in on tuesday, so I'll have to go back. I could have gotten the name brand for $1 more per pound, but I can wait 2 days to get the better price.

At Winn Dixie, I bought things that you can't necessarily get at Sams. I'm trying to get better about brown-bagging my lunches for work, and cutting out the fast food. My Blow money was going towards lunch - fast food lunches, and thats one thing I'm trying to cut back on this year. I know I can cut out fast food, I've done it before, I can do it again. I bought cans of soup and some of those microwave meals for a decent price. A $2 can of soup is cheaper than a $5 value meal at the drive through (and it's more healthy). I also use coupons - but I ONLY use coupons for items I would have bought anyway. There's no point in buying a random item with a coupon if it's not something you need. However, even if I have a coupon, I still compare the store brand price. If the store brand is cheaper than the name brand, even with the coupon, I'll buy the store brand. I bought Chef Boyardee Ravioli cans for 10/$10 today. Usually, they are $1.25 each, and the Store brand is $1 each, but today, I was able to get the name brand product for the store brand price. YAY!

Using store sales, and coupons, I bought $120 worth of groceries tonight for only $89. I also like that WD allows you to buy BOGO (buy one, get one free) items for 1/2 off if you only buy 1 of the items. Publix (the other big grocery chain in my area) doesn't allow this - you have to buy both items to get the sale.

I'll probably go to "the bread store" one day this week. The bread store is a discount bakery. 1 day old bread that is no longer on shelves at the major grocery stores. I dunno about you, but I can't eat a loaf of bread in a single day, and if bread is only 1 day old, I would much rather buy it at the discount bakery - where I also get a 10% military discount. Woo! I can get a name brand loaf of bread that's normally $3 a loaf for about $1.20...sometimes less. I can also get bagels and buns. I usually spend about $12 at the bread store - and I come home with 6-8 loaves of bread and several packages of bagels or buns in the process. It's a STEAL! Here's another blog I found about the benefits of going to a discount bread store: http://getoutofdebt.org/1123/where-to-buy-really-cheap-bread